Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Walkathon to change the lives of the less privileged children

Children participating in the walkathon organised as part of the ‘Be the Change’ campaign in the Marina on Friday. — Photo: R. Ravindran

CHENNAI: Hundreds of children, holding placards that read ‘Be the Change’, marched from the Labour Statue to Gandhi Statue on the Marina beach here on Friday. This was to bring together privileged and underprivileged children as part of the Children’s Day celebration organised by Smile Foundation.

The children walked hand-in-hand urging people to take a positive step towards changing the lives of less privileged children for the better.

Actor Partheeban flagged off the walkathon with a special message for the day. “To bring more smiles in the lives of underprivileged children we need more campaigns like this,” he said. His daughter Keerthana, a child artist, also joined in the celebrations and interacted with the children who took part from various schools.

Musrath Begum, Senior General Manager of Smile Foundation said if young children from privileged backgrounds could be convinced at this age they would develop the sensitivity to respond to the needs of underprivileged children they come across around them. “If we can bridge the gap between privileged and underprivileged, we can address all kinds of issues,” she said.

Children from regular schools walked together with underprivileged children from different Smile Foundation centres to sensitise people to take a step forward on issues related to health and education of underprivileged children.

The week-long ‘Walkathon’ is being organised in nine Indian cities including New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vadodara and Nagpur.

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